THE DUKE OF WINDSOR
came to life. The Prince was surrounded by affection and
young nonsense: the burden of the past three years had not
withered his power to throw himself wholeheartedly into
their fun.
The Prince met the old, serious leaders at dinner in the
evening, and he had to talk with Dutchmen who had once
fought against Britain. He had to listen to men who were
inclined towards secession, and who had already woven the
design for their own, separate South African flag. His speech
won their applause. He did not speak grandly, nor with
phrases cunningly written to catch their favour. "I come to
you as the King's eldest son/' he said, "as heir to a throne
under which the members of that Commonwealth are free
to develop each on its own lines but all to work together as
one___My travels have taught me this, that the throne is
regarded as standing for a heritage of common ends and
ideals/' The sincerity, and the smile that went with these
conventional words, warmed his audience. At the end he
used a few phrases of Afrikaans. "I am very pleased to meet
you to-night, and thank you again for your warm welcome/'
When the dinner was over the old Dutchmen gathered about
him, and one, we are told, pressed his hand and said that it
would be very nice if he could remain in Africa and be their
first President.
The racial problems in South Africa cannot be compared
with those of other Commonwealth countries. The protest
of the Maoris was faint when the white men went to New
Zealand; and when the windjammers of the 'forties sailed
into the harbours of Australia, the aboriginies scattered like
animals into the bush. The Indians of Canada were a harder
race to conquer, but they soon allowed their brave arrows
to rust in their quivers. Africa was the only country in which
the natives were mighty in their fight against European civi-
lisation. Their hordes had measured millions, and they still
measured millions when the Prince of Wales went to see them
in 1935.
In South Africa, the Prince's duty was different from that
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